Pretty much everything in your home is powered by electricity, the cost of which is going up slowly but surely.
Many people needlessly waste money by misusing their appliances.
Here are the top 3 energy-wasting appliances in your home, how to prevent wastage and run your appliances as cheaply as possible
Fridges/Fridge-Freezers
Your fridge is on all the time, 24-hours a day 365 days a year. The fridge will only go off if you suffer a power cut.
The fridge can consume up to 30% of your electricity bill.
Always buy the best energy efficiency rated fridge you can afford. Preferably and a+++ which are around four times more efficient than the lowest-rated fridges available in the UK.
The superior energy efficiency will save you money over time and is more environmentally friendly.
If you have an old fridge with a poor energy rating, consider buying a new one. Buy the smallest fridge you can manage. There’s no point buying a double fridge if you live alone.
Always keep your fridge door closed and shut correctly; otherwise, it’ll waste energy.
Keep the interior clean and free of ice, pull the fridge out and clean behind it now and then.
If you have a fridge-freezer, keep the freezer section as full as possible. A full freezer is cheaper to run than an empty freezer.
Tumble Dryer
Tumble dryers are highly convenient, especially for those with big families they are however quite expensive to run, especially if used all year round.
Again buy the highest energy rating you can afford.
Always make sure washing has been through a spin cycle in the washing machine before going into the tumble dryer. Removing the maximum amount of water will take less time to dry and consume less energy.
Always run your tumble dryer at full capacity, two loads of washing instead of one (if possible) also know how best to use your washing machine
On those sunny and dry windy days hang your laundry outside and get it dry for free.
TV
Over the years TV’s have got larger, the bigger your TV and the more it’s on, the more energy it will consume.
LED TVs are way more efficient than LCD and plasma screens. Buy the smallest LED TV you can get away with.
The less you watch, the less energy you use, no one ever suffered from watching less TV. Brighter TVs use more energy, turn down the brightness to the lowest acceptable level to you (this is better for your eyes also)
Don’t leave your TV on when no one’s watching, don’t leave it on standby either switch off at the wall.